172 



SCIENTFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



[1854. 



kind, inasmuch as they readily transmit the invisible rays. By em- 

 ploying the light of the powerful galvanic battery of the royal institution, 

 and lenses and prisms of quartz, the author obtained a spectrum six to 

 eight times as long as the ordinary visible spectrum, and crossed from 

 one end to the other with bright bands. The interposition of a plate 

 of glass shortened the spectrum to a small fraction of its original length, 

 the highly refrangible portion being entirely absorbed. The discharge 

 of a Leyden jar gave a spectrum which was at least as long, but which 

 was not perfectly similar to the others, as it consisted only of insulated 

 bright bands. Stokes remarks finally that in winter, even in bright 

 sunshine, he could obtain no such extended spectrum; as the spring 

 advanced, the light constantly improved ; he could not, however, see 

 so far into the spectrum asj at the end of last August. The Earth's 

 atmosphere was evidently not transparent for the very highly refran- 

 gible rays of the suns light. — l'ogg. Ann., lxxxix, G27. 



Telegraphic Inventions. — The Official Venice Gazette states in a 

 special article, that the Olympic Academy of Vicenza, having care- 

 fully examined the discovery made by their fellow-citizen Tremeschini 

 of electric telegraphy by secret transmission, has publicly declared it 

 to be a successful invention. The commission appointed to test its 

 efficacy was composed of the councillor-delegate, of the Podesta, the 

 superior commissary, and the Academic council. The first experiment 

 consisted in sending and receiving a despatch in the common way, 

 without secresy. In the second experiment a despatch was sent secretly, 

 and the answer received in the same manner, by the aid of the 

 new apparatus. In the third a despatch was sent openly, and the 

 answer received secretly, to show that the secret apparatus might be 

 used or suspended at will. The results of the inquiry are said to 

 show — first, that the apparatus of Tremeschini may be applied to 

 Morse's telegraph ; secondly, that when the despatch is sent secretly 

 it can only be received so, any fraud in that reepect being subject to 

 immediate detection ; thirdly, that secresy may be suspended or ap- 

 plied at pleasure. 



The Royal Observatory at Brussels has just been placed in 

 electric communication with the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for 

 the purpose of facilitating the determination in a direct manner of the 

 difference of longitude between the two establishments. This oper- 

 ation is one of extreme delicacy, as well as of great importance to 

 geodesy. The electric communication is made in such a manner that 

 eYHTj oscillation of the pendulum at Brussels will be represented with 

 accuracy at Greenwich, and vice versa. The observations are to com- 

 mence this week. 



Public Health — Lead, Copper or Zinc Pipes. — The Minister of 

 Commerce, Agriculture, and Public Works in France, has just issued a 

 circular to all prefects calling upon them to put a stop to the use of 

 lead pipes in Breweries. The Minister in his circular states that 

 "Experience proves that beer, by simple contact with lead, takes up 

 an appreciable quantity of the metal, and thus acquires poisonous 

 properties, Leaden pipes are not only used in breweries ; but a cus- 

 tom has arisen in taverns, and in houses where wine is sold, of using 

 a small pump, which communicates with the barrels in the cellar by 

 means of a leaden pipe. The use of the pipe in this instance is pecu- 

 liarly objectionable, inasmuch as the action of the pump is at intervals 

 only. A whole family was poisoned by using for some time a pump 

 of this kind for drawing up their odinary consumption of wine. The 

 PreTet of the North, who had already taken the initiative in adopting 

 measures necessary for putting a stop to the methods used in his de- 

 partment for the refining of beer, has, following the advice of the 

 Council of Public Health, just prescribed the use of lead, copper, or 

 zinc pipes for the drawing or transmission of this liquid." 



Preparation or Valerianic Acid from Fusel Oil. — Gruneberg 

 recommends the following proportions as the most advantageous, 2J 

 lbs. of bichromate of potash are to be introduced into a retort, and 

 4J lbs. of hot water poured upon the salt. A cooled mixture of 1 lb. 

 of fusel oil and 4 lbs. of sulphuric acid diluted with 2 lbs. of water is 

 to be allowed to flow very slowly and in a thin stream into the liquid 

 in the retort, and the whole is then to be distilled. The distillation 

 goes on quietly, and 9 ounces of oily valerianic acid are obtained. — 

 Journal sur prakl. Chemie, lx, 169. 



Photography on Textile Fabrics. — Messrs. Wulff, of Paris, have 

 placed before the French Institute some specimens of photography on 

 linen, oil cloth, chintz., &c. This discovery will be of great import- 

 ance for architectural ornamentation and other useful purposes. Such 

 pictures can be cleaned by wiping, nay, they can be washed, and a 

 portrait on linen or long-cloth can be forwarded in a letter. As 



moreover, these photographs can be obtained at a cheaper rate than 

 those ou metal or paper, the art will become more popularized. Messrs, 

 Wulff keep their procedure yet secret, but it is thought that they oper- 

 ate on a preparation of idodized collodion. — Builder, 



Preparation or Ferrocyaxiiydp.ic Acid. — Lb-big gives the follow- 

 ing simple method of preparing this acid. When a saturated solution 

 of ferrocyanate of pottash is mixed with its own volume of fuming 

 muriatic acid added in small portions at a time, a snow-white precipi- 

 tate of pure ferrocyanhydric acid is thrown down. These are to be 

 washed with muriatic acid, dried upon a brick, and dissolved in alco- 

 hol ; from the alcoholic solution the acid may be obtained in beautiful 

 crystals. — Ann. dcr Chimie and JP/mrmaeic, lxxxvii. 127. 



A New Comet. — On the morning of the 2nd December, a comet was 

 discovered by Mr. Klinkerfues, of the Gottingen Observatory, on the 

 border of the Constellation Perseus, near the foot of Andromeda. At 

 four o'clock, a. m., on the 3rd, its right ascension was in Hi. 87m. 20s. 

 and its declination 51 deg. 37 sec. north. The diurnal motion in right 

 ascension was 2m. towards the west, and in declination of 1J deg. 

 towards the south. Mr. Klinkerfues was the discover of the" third 

 comet of the present year, which became so conspicious at the end of 

 August in the north-western heavens. 



Separation of Nickel from Cobalt. — Liebeg has found that when 

 a current of chlorine is passed into a cold solution of the double cyan- 

 ades of cobalt and potassium and of nickel and potassium, the liquid 

 being kept alkaline by the addition of caustic soda or potash, the 

 nickel is completely converted into sesquioxid and precipitated, while 

 the cobalt remains in solution as unaltered double cyanid. The see- ■ 

 quioxyd of nickel may be washed and the nickel weighed in the form 

 of protoxyd ; it is perfectly free from cobalt. The solution after 

 passing the chlorine must still be alkaline. The smallest trace of Nickel 

 gives an inky black color when dissolved in cyanid of potassium, 

 and treated with chlorine. This method of separating cobalt and nick- 

 el has perhaps some advantages over Liebig's second method which it 

 will be remembered, consists in boiling the mixed double cyanids with 

 oxyd of mercury, which precipitates the nickel but not the cobalt. 



Fossil Human Skulls — Wonderful if True. — The German Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of Science, lately held at Tubingen, appears 

 to have been a most successful gathering. In the course of the pro- 

 ceedings, Prof. Karnat announced that Germany had coal enough to 

 supply herself, and all the rest of the world, for the next 500 years. 

 This is important if true ; but the great fact elicited at the meeting 

 was the clearing up of the mystery of the fossil human teeth exhibited 

 at the preceeding year's meeting, which were found, it will be re- 

 collected, in the Swabian Alps, in strata of the mammoth period, and 

 doubts expressed as to their being human teeth, as a man was not 

 believed to have existed in the time of the mammoth. Since the meet- 

 ing in 1S52, however, a number of perfect human skulls have been 

 found in the same locality with the teeth in them, which discovery if 

 correctly reported, would naturally lead to the conclusion that a race 

 of human beings was in existence contemporaneously with the mastodon, 

 and other of the larger antediluvian animals. — Mining Journal. 



The Nova Zembla Bottles. — Colonel Sabine on the part of the 

 Committee of the Royal Society appointed to inquire into the probable 

 origin of some bottles recently found on the shores of Nova Zembla, 

 reported : — 



" That the Committee had availed itself of the assistance of the 

 Committee for managing the affairs of Lloyds, and had received from 

 Captain Halsted a report, which is subjoined: and that the Committee 

 have further requested that the Agents for Lloyds on the coast of Nor- 

 way may be directed to obtain specimens of the bottles stated to be 

 employed by the Norwegian fishermen, to compare with the bottles 

 received from the Admiralty. The evidence relating to the bottle ex- 

 hibited in the Vestibule of Lloyds, appeared to prove conclusively that 

 it was of Norwegian make and similar to those used by the Norwegian 

 fishermen for the past five years as floats for fishing nets. 



Miscellaneous Intelligence* 



King's College, London. — The following appointments have been 

 made by the Council of King's College, London, consequent on the 

 vacancy in the List of Professors created by 'the removal of the Rev. 

 F. D. Maurice. The Rev. Dr. M'Caul is elected into the Chair of 

 Ecclesiastical History, — in addition to that of History and the Old 



